A BUSINESS park for high-tech firms on Teesside employs more people than in its heyday as the site of engineering company Head Wrightson.

Latest research for Stockton Borough Council and the Teesdale Business Association has revealed that the Teesdale site, in Thornaby, now employs more than 4,500 people working in a range of office and learning developments.

The businesses and other organisations contribute £47.3m a year into the local economy through salaries. And the value of financial transactions which pass through Teesdale could be as high as £1bn a year.

The survey, carried out by Professor Alan Townsend, of Durham University's Wolfson Institute, at Stockton, aimed to gather information on the number of firms and jobs created, their spending and employment impact on the Tees Valley.

It also measured economic activity at Teesdale and the prospects for future development.

The report says that 20 years before Head Wrightson's closure in 1985, about 2,600 people worked at Teesdale, a figure surpassed by the end of 1999.

Five employers each now have 400 or more staff.